A weighty problem .....
A young friend of mine has always had an ambition to be a pilot, specifically an air force pilot.
Since she was a child, her intention has never wavered and with the goal fixed firmly in her sights, she worked hard, studied hard and applied herself with single-minded determination to achieve what she wanted. As well as the academic side of things (straight A.s in every subject except one), she was determined to be very fit physically and from the age of twelve, she was coached by her father (a personal trainer), until by the time she left High School, she was running fifteen kilometres twice a week, doing weight training, playing squash and swimming.
The kid is as fit as a mallee bull ... as we say hereabouts!
Can you imagine then how devastated she felt last week when she was refused "entry" to the RAAF ........ because she is overweight!!!!
It seems that the RAAF goes by a fairly strict height/weight ratio guide according to which revered document, she is 8kg overweight. Now, if anything, she is actually a little on the lean side but because she has quite a low percentage of body fat and a fairly high percentage of muscle, she is a lot heavier than someone else of similar height and size.
She explained this to the powers that be but they insist that she must be treated the same as every other applicant. So, in spite of the evidence of their own eyes, they maintain that she is overweight and, by implication, unfit.
I have no idea what advice I could possibly offer her ... it seems awful to tell her to eat junk food for a month, don't exercise and the air force would love to have you when you've become less fit.
Does anyone have any clues here ... any advice, bright ideas, been through the same thing ... whatever ... anything that might assist will be very welcome.